Books: Last Book You Read and Rate It

[Spring in Fialta]

Heart of a Dog (written in 1925, published in 1968) by Mikhail Bulgakov - Very funny, if only a little too reliant on stereotypes and snobbery in its executed ideas. An obvious satire, the story follows a famous and posh doctor who takes in a well-meaning but rambunctious stray dog into his home to conduct an experiment - he operates on the canine and transfers some organs of a recently-dead criminal vagrant into him. The result is horrific. Following the operation, the dog rapidly transforms into some sort of vulgar humanoid who nonetheless retains an appetite for chasing cats, which is about the best thing one can say about the renamed Sharikov. Bulgakov switches effortlessly between different styles of narration. The original dog has his day, as does the doctor's faithful protege, as does a third-person narrator. The final result alternates between heartwarming, incredibly funny and sometimes a little standoffish but never lacking in awareness. Bulgakov has his fun with stylistic form and uses it for comedic effect, especially in the protege's medical notes regarding the quick progress (and vulgar manners) developed by Sharik following his transformation. The story is fairly straight-forward and doesn't diverge from the necessary and the immediate and makes its point clear through funny dialogue, without pontificating. But Russian history obviously did not replicate Bulgakov's happy ending, where the doctor and the sweet and deserving mongrel Sharik cutefully find a happy end in each other's company.

 

[kihei]

The Testanents, by Margaret Atwood

The Testments starts nearly twenty years after The Handmaid's Tale ends. One of Atwood's most successful novels, The Handmaid's Tale creates a chilling fundamentalist Christian dystopia where women have been reduced to breeders and servants, where a woman could be raped and hung for it as she undoubtedly seduced her "victim." The story focuses on one particular handmaid, among the lowest of the low, and a daughter who she wants to save from Gilead, the new name of the United States. It is a novel that takes an ultra-right wing ideology and demonstrates what it would be like to live in an actual world that upholds and reveres that ideology. The book has acquired even more heft as time has passed and the line between church and state has become increasingly and dangerously blurred in the States. Some of the shit that Atwood writes about doesn't seem far-fetched anymore at all; in fact, in the original novel, she did not use a single incident that did not have its precedent somewhere in history. Especially after the huge success of the TV series, many readers wanted a sequel and finally Atwood has decided to give them one.

The Testaments is easier to take than the original work because the emphasis is on resistance, on the bad guys getting their comeuppance. While the book lacks the literary stature of A Handmaid's Tale, is, in fact, a lesser work among Atwood's impressive canon, it is still readable as hell, a real page turner. Left to her own devices, I'm pretty sure that Atwood would have preferred to not write a sequel, so I suspect that this is a work generated more by commercial pressures than any great need to continue the story. The single handmaid narration of the original is replaced by three narrators, Aunt Lydia, the most powerful woman in Gilead; Agnes, a young woman who will do anything to avoid marrying the Commander who has killed numerous of his past wives when they started to age; and Nicole, the former baby smuggled across the border to Canada near the end of The Handmaid's Tale. Together they construct a plan that if successful could expose the barbarity of the Christian fundamentalist doctrine and bring down Gilead in the process. There are problems with this three-headed narrator, though. As has already been pointed out by quite a few readers of The Testaments, the sections devoted to the young women read like YA fiction, and I had a definite sense that Atwood was intentionally dumbing down part of the work so as to be as accessible as possible. So this volume is hardly great literature. But it is a fun read, which I can't say with a straight face about the original. Aunt Lydia is a marvelous character, full of cunning and insight and even humour. Canada comes across very well in all this as well. As always a great storyteller, Atwood ends the book in a manner that certainly doesn't call for a sequel. I'd bet a lot of money that she intended it that way.

 

[kihei]

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

Though I readily concede his genius, I have not always been a big fan of Salman Rushdie whose works often seem to me like deliberate tour de forces and that gets tiring after awhile. But words fail me with this one. Rushie updates Don Quixote, placing his quest in the contemporary United States, creating an imaginary son, his Sancho Panza, who astonishingly comes to life where he is assisted by Jiminy Cricket among others. Quixote is an old man, born in Bombay but moved to America, who has fallen in love with a popular TV host, a combination of Oprah Winfrey, a Bollywood superstar and a drug addict. The novel is a brilliant exploration of a society and culture in the process of falling completely apart, as dangerous to itself as it is to others, a chronicle of how so much went wrong in so many ways. While the emphasis is on Quichotte's quest, the social commentary along the way is devastating and wildly imaginative, veering off as it does into fantasy, magic realism and an apocalyptic vision that threatens to tear down the entire universe. Just amazingly imaginative and creative stuff from one of the most fertile minds and gifted writers of 21st century fiction. I'm surprised Quichotte didn't win the Booker Prize. I haven't read all the candidates but it sure as hell beats the living daylights out of The Testaments, which is more of a cultural event than a great novel.

 

[ORRFForever]

I Heard You Paint Houses [2004] :

I wanted to read the book before The Irishman came out in early November and I'm glad I did. It's an interesting read about a hitman who claims he killed his friend Jimmy Hoffa - and, for what it's worth, I believe him.

It's a quick read and while I had a few issues with the writing style, my 2 biggest concerns were :

1) Too much inside baseball talk about unions - the middle of the book will be great for lovers of organized labour (if such a person actually exists), but, for the rest of us, it gets a little dry.

2) I can't remember what I had for breakfast, yet Frank Sheeran somehow remembers small details about mob life from decades before. It makes you wonder how much is true and how much he embellished.

Still, it's fun and I can see why they turned it into a movie.

7.5/10

 

[Babe Ruth]

In fairness, I didn't make it to the end of this one.. because it was dry and meandering. After 250 pages, I realized I hadn't gained any new insights & was basically bored. But from what I did read: the author basically goes into the psychological effect(s) that the catastrophic Lisbon earthquake (of the 1700s) & Auschwitz had on Western attitudes about evil.
She seems to refer to the business & obligations of 'professional philosophy' frequently.. which as a layman I also found boring, self-indulgent (?)
My subjective opinion, this book's not good..

 

[Thucydides]

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

Though I readily concede his genius, I have not always been a big fan of Salman Rushdie whose works often seem to me like deliberate tour de forces and that gets tiring after awhile. But words fail me with this one. Rushie updates Don Quixote, placing his quest in the contemporary United States, creating an imaginary son, his Sancho Panza, who astonishingly comes to life where he is assisted by Jiminy Cricket among others. Quixote is an old man, born in Bombay but moved to America, who has fallen in love with a popular TV host, a combination of Oprah Winfrey, a Bollywood superstar and a drug addict. The novel is a brilliant exploration of a society and culture in the process of falling completely apart, as dangerous to itself as it is to others, a chronicle of how so much went wrong in so many ways. While the emphasis is on Quichotte's quest, the social commentary along the way is devastating and wildly imaginative, veering off as it does into fantasy, magic realism and an apocalyptic vision that threatens to tear down the entire universe. Just amazingly imaginative and creative stuff from one of the most fertile minds and gifted writers of 21st century fiction. I'm surproised Quichotte didn't win the Booker Prize. I haven't read all the candidates but it sure as hell beats the living daylights out of The Testaments, which is more of a cultural event than a great novel.

Great review. Reading this next.

 

[Thucydides]

I’ve had Ben Lerner really hyped up to me by a couple people , so I was pumped to read this.

a bit disappointed with this though. It fell flat in a couple of places, but when it was good it was really good.

6.8/10

 

[kihei]

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Refugees is a collection of eight short stories and two essays that deal with the plight, and all its multitudinous influences, that Vietnam refugees in particular face in adjusting to life in the country that forced their relocation in the first place. While the stories almost exclusively deal with Vietnamese or Vietnamese-Americans, the same general truths hold for most refugees whose culture or skin colour make them standout. The stories are a bit uneven--eventually too many narrators seem to speak with the same voice-- but the good ones are really good. Collectively they lack the impact of Nguyen' Pulitzer Prize winning The Sympathizer, the story of a North Vietnam mole trying to survive the war, than later life and resistance in the United States. The mole adjusts to a wide variety of different circumstances, but becomes understandably confused about where all this is leading him and about what he truly believes in. However most fiction lacks the impact of The Sympathizer, so it's not that great a flaw. As in The Sympathizer, Nguyen is at its best when he examines his characters' fragile psyches. The collection shows just how complicated and traumatizing a refugee's existence is, especially in countries that do not welcome them and don't want to understand them. Nguyen has managed to distill his experience and his anger. The Refugees is both a good read and, in its own way, a genuine public service.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I forgot my bag in a bar and Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing was in it. I couldn't get the bag back for a week or so. I re-read 3 novellas in the meantime to tide me over. It's not so bad because the Crossing reads like a couple of novellas in one and I had just finished the second one so I don't feel like I'm lacking in the pacing to take in the book and its story fully.

Landsend by Hubert Selby Jr. (1964) - The last story in his Last Exit to Brooklyn. It was alright. Great in spurts. I guess the initial shock from when it was released in the sixties wears off when you read it in 2019. Following a day in the life of downtrodden residents in a Brooklyn project, the story switches back and forth between a number of demographics, whether related to age, gender or ethnicity. Some stories never go anywhere particular and are only a description of relatively well-written atrocities and soul-crushing endeavors of aimless wasters. The typing is sometimes a little obnoxious (if not outright bigoted) with one perspective being written in all-caps (they're italian-americans) or cringy, stereotypical for an (over-sexualized) AA character. It's a captivating read in a sordid way and the everyman prose makes it accessible and sometimes funny, but there are better stories in this collection.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886) - Fairly certain I've reviewed this one earlier in this thread. An accessible masterpiece. An easy prose used to delve into heavy themes with perfect precision. Not a word or thought wasted. A truly great example of the heights the novella can reach, heights that may surpass those of the masterpiece novel.

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1867) - Probably rockets up among my all-time favorites. What a story and what style! Even the backstory to how this little gem came to be is spectacular and I wonder if it didn't have a major influence on its length and cadence (which mirrors the fervor of a gambling trance). Dostoevsky, struggling with a gambling addiction, was under duress to produce a novel under a short deadline or else all of his published works would belong to another publisher for 9 years and he wouldn't receive a cent for them. With the help of his future wife, he was able to crank out this (probably very close to home) story about a lovestruck and manic gambler. Said gambler is a tutor under the thumb of a General. He is in love with his niece and is completely devoted to her in a hilarious and pathetic way (he is willing to throw himself over the bridge for her if only she desires it, he insults powerful German aristocrats simply because she asks for it and is willing to give her thousands of francs he wins in an insane streak the moment he comes through the door) while for most of the book, she appears to resent him, use him and make fun of his love for her. In the meantime, a number of leeches are waiting for the General's aunt (who is in Russia while they are lounging in Germany) to croak so they can get her dough. Instead, the demented granny shows up and gets the roulette bug as well and keeps the main character (one of the few she appears to like) by her side. She lives large. She wins big. She loses almost everything. Nobody was ever going to get anything, anyways. What follows is a memorable race to the bottom for a number of characters written with the cadence and energy of a man with his nuts over the fire. Every line is written as if they were inevitable bullets which in a psychological way, seems to unite both Dostoevsky and his main character's predicament. Still, it is a deeply funny story that never relents or wallows in its pity. There's no time for it. It is also trademark Dostoevsky in how it explores and fully realizes his characters, no matter how relevant they are to the story. They all fit perfectly and are walking contradictions without actually contradicting the world created by their author. Their dialogue, while old-fashioned, has more impact and flow than most modern works. And while the prose and story are funny and amusing, Dostoevsky masterfully pulls the blind from the reader's eye towards the end to divulge a denouement, voiced perfectly by his protagonist's delusions, that makes for one hell of an emotional and aesthetical impact (by this point, the inevitable bullets become engulfing, perpetual streaks of hell fire) that bring a bitter but perfect ending to this somewhat endearingly moronic (yet deeply romantic) lovestory.

Now I'm going back to The Crossing.

 

[Ceremony]

Oil! by Upton Sinclair is a book that isn't as cheerful as the punctuation in its title would have you believe. It's also something so rare I've never seen anything to compare it with - a book which spawned a Hollywood film which doesn't have a ghastly cover celebrating this fact.



It still has Daniel Day Lewis on the front, yes, but he's taking up about a quarter of the front at most. Which I suppose is fitting, since it's only about that much of the book which inspired the characters and some of the events of There Will Be Blood. Oil! Is the story of J. Arnold Ross, independent Californian oil man, and his son Bunny, who he grooms to take over the family business. The book is set in the early 20th century and takes in the various social, economic and political shifts experienced by the USA at that time.

It's initially quite strange reading this book, as you can't help but compare it to the film. Scenes and part of the dialogue are lifted almost word for word, but the actual surroundings are fundamentally different, and a lot less severe. This is mainly a result of Sinclair's style of writing, which puts me in mind of Fitzgerald and other writers of that time. He's very fond of exclamation marks. So while he might be writing about a brutal, dehumanising industry and later a corrupt political system, it rarely feels laboured (sorry) from a linguistic perspective.

The narration plays a large part in this, as it's through Bunny's childhood and adolescence that we get his perspective. He thinks his dad is wonderful. He thinks the way his dad bribes policemen to let him speed is wonderful. He thinks of the whole world as oil, and of the respect being a man of money and means can bring. The first half of the book is very effective as a result, with Bunny's childish naievety both documenting the brutal reality of the industry and simplifying it. The result of this simplification is an almost instinctive justification. "People need oil, my dad gets it, what's the problem?" It helps also that these opening sections are as interesting as Bunny himself finds them. It's enjoyable to read and explore a new area and people with his enthusiasm, and it's equally enjoyable to learn about oil drilling as he does.

The tone changes though as Bunny grows up, the War happens, President Harding dies and the oil workers try to unionise and get some rights. This is where the central purpose of the book shines through, to criticise and demonstrate the corruption and exploitation in the oil industry and political machine surrounding it. Sinclair opens the book with a disclaimer - that although the names of people and places have been changed (it's set in Angel City rather than Los Angeles, for instance) the names themselves are irrelevant, as if they hadn't been involved, other people would have in their place. The book is very effective, if a little labou- strained, at this. It goes into great detail about how the oil companies - large and independent - secretly plot together to drive down wages and conditions, and the efforts of some people to change this.

This point of the book is juxtaposed with Bunny's entry to adulthood, and his realisation that being young, handsome and unknowably rich can make you popular with girls. He ends up in a relationship with a movie star and goes to premieres and parties with her, all the while trying to convince himself that he's a friend of the working man, wanting to set up labour colleges and enact proper communism as his friends have seen it when in Russia during the war. The book struggles here slightly, as I found it hard to believe that Bunny, or anyone, could be as naive or ignorant as he is at times.
Oil! was published in 1927. As you may be aware, a significant event happened to the American and world economy in 1929. As a result the book becomes harder to read from a historical perspective. It's not right to criticise it for this, I know, but it's weird to read about something as so absolute and definite when you know the country was changed beyond recognition shortly after the events depicted. Then again, the same can be said for the War and other books from the same period, so I suppose it's an obstacle the modern reader just has to deal with.

Despite these historical oddities, I'd say that Oil! is something especially pertinent to read today, given the state of various factors affecting the Western world. Political corruption, the rights of workers and the effect of industry on the environment are all crucial issues facing us today, and to read something written a century ago with the same problems is somewhat demoralising. The idealistic utopia imagined by Bunny and his friends is obvious nonsense, but not in the way it's dismissed by opponents of the time. To know that I'm of the same age as Bunny, experiencing so many of the same things, it's sobering.

As effective as the book is in this sense, it concludes far too quickly and neatly. It's 550 pages long and the final 50 of those are quite sudden and different from what came before. Come to think of it that might be a good thing, as the then yet to happen Great Depression was probably just as sudden. But then this is a book, and the end is quite jarring. I don't think it's enough to truly spoil the book, but it might leave you a bit unsatisfied when you're finished.

So, enjoyably written, fast-paced, interesting, depressingly relevant a century later. Just what you want from all your old literature, I suppose.

 

[kihei]

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

The reason I chose to read this book is that, along with Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Girl, Woman, Other won (or co-won, I guess) this year's Booker Prize. My dog in the race, Salman Rushdie's Quichotte, made the shortlist but fell short of the prize. So despite the fact that I had never heard of the author, I started reading Girl, Woman, Other. The author, Bernardine Evaristo, is black, British, lesbian, and feminist, and while the work will be of great interest to all those groups, its appeal should not be seen as hostage to any or all of those groups. The work is a collection of chapters each in which the focus shifts among three black women, whom we get to know thanks to Evaristo's great gift for characterization and description. There are twelve women profiled in all, and they range from teachers to drop outs, from flamboyant gay figures to women still uncertain of their gender identity, from the very young to the very old, from investment bankers to maids. Each is a fully realized character with a history that is as complex and varied as they are. All of these women are roughly interlinked, some more closely than others. Evaristo is especially interested in how these women have been shaped by forces very often beyond their control. What emerges is a portrait of a group of women who in someway are representative of Britain in the 21st century, where things are chaotic, changing, confusing, and sometimes still mired in a colonial past. Evaristo sometimes deliberately takes a stereotype figure (the young, single mom with three children by three different fathers, for instance), and gives us an imaginative look into how they see life from their perspective. The collection of stories, which also functions as a novel, is about where people are now in a society that is split between accepting change and resisting it entirely. When such turbulent fault lines emerge, it is often black women who feel their impact most acutely. However, the work is not a downer-it is also full of humour, insight and charm. It is in no way a doctrinaire screed in any way, shape or form. I hesitate to compare this work to James Joyce's The Dubliners as it is not that good. But just as The Dubliners looked at one group of Irish people in one particular place, this book also presents an intricate, deeply personal portrait of a British community, in this case, of women struggling to do the best they can with the various resources, or lack thereof, at their disposal. I still think that Quichotte should have won this year's Booker Prize, but I'm not complaining about it in the least. While Atwood's The Testaments is more of a social event than a good novel, Girl, Woman, Other is quite obviously an important and far-ranging peek into cultures with which most of us are not very familiar. Anyone, male or female, with an interest in human beings and what makes them tick will find Girl, Woman, Other a rewarding and insightful experience.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy (1994) - Great, if only maybe a little too long. It's essentially three novellas centered around one character, Billy Purham, a teenager who sets out on three trips across the US-Mexican border. The first crossing centers around his (somewhat misguided) attempt to return a captured she-wolf to its home. It ends in heartbreak and disaster the moment the wolf shows an inkling of trust towards Billy. The second crossing centers around Billy and his young brother Boyd trying to retrieve the family horses following the murder of their parents. And the third crossing centers around Billy looking for Boyd after the latter ditches him in Mexico. There is a continuous, perceptible thread that attaches all of these stories (and there are interesting sideline stories within these separate crossings) that make for a consistent read. The book doesn't ever really peak (besides maybe the wolf's death or a couple of monologues) or craters but it is also more all over the map (not in a bad way) than other McCarthy stories, which tend to be linear affairs plot-wise. McCarthy's philosophical musings circle around previously traveled grounds but his sheer artistry in their delivery always makes for fine reading. For me, he can repeat himself all he wants. How he says things constitutes constant aesthetical delight. A worthy read for any fan of McCarthy, but probably not a point of entry for anyone who isn't familiar with other novels. There are more mainstream/accessible ones out there (his last two) or more ambitious works (Blood Meridian). Although since I'm already about a third of the way through Blood Meridian after like a day, I think my current compass for what I deem accessible or challenging has changed (and has been for a while now) for the better.

Edit: Any reader should have direct access to Google Translate if they don't read Spanish. One thing the fluent McCarthy won't do is hold the reader's hand when it comes to translation.

 

[kihei]

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

When his wife wants to break up with him, an unnamed painter of portraits, not what he considers real art. gets in his car and starts driving, not heeding where he is going and ending up in remote northern Japan. Through a fortuitous circumstance, he ends up looking after a beautiful house and meets his neighbour, Menshiki, a very polished, independently wealthy man who lives alone in a stunning mansion on a mountain. Though the portrait artist has given up painting, Menshiki makes him an offer he can't refuse, and he creates his most penetrating work. Likable but mysterious Menshiki has another agenda, though, one that the artist is slowly drawn into. When he discovers an unknown painting in the house that he is living in, a painting that is incredibly powerful, he tries to figure out what the painting is actually saying. Between Menshiki and the painting, he enters into a world that is removed from day to day reality and yet influences that reality in ways that are almost imperceptible. The novel slowly creates a magical world where Ideas and Metaphors can actually come to life. But what end this magical world serves is the mystery which Killing Commendatore slowly, exquisitely unravels. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Murakami combines an amazing imagination, complex characters and elegant prose into an absolutely brillliant page turner. Throughout his career Murakami has had the ability to create worlds and realities that seem to coexist with what we deem to be normal. These places do not exist in any rational sense bur are sometimes more real than what we think of as everyday reality. For instance in this novel, he probes the boundary between presence and absence to marvelous effect. He seems to see existence as having several hidden dimensions, some of them as beautiful as a Mozart sonata, some of them as sinister as a nightmare. Killing Commendatore is one of his best works and easily my favourite recent novel.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

When his wife wants to break up with him, an unnamed painter of portraits, not what he considers real art. gets in his car and starts driving, not heeding where he is going and ending up in remote northern Japan. Through a fortuitous circumstance, he ends up looking after a beautiful house and meets his neighbour, Menshiki, a very polished, independently wealthy man who lives alone in a stunning mansion on a mountain. Though the portrait artist has given up painting, Menshiki makes him an offer he can't refuse, and he creates his most penetrating work. Likable but mysterious Menshiki has another agenda, though, one that the artist is slowly drawn into. When he discovers an unknown painting in the house that he is living in, a painting that is incredibly powerful, he tries to figure out what the painting is actually saying. Between Menshiki and the painting, he enters into a world that is removed from day to day reality and yet influences that reality in ways that are almost imperceptible. The novel slowly creates a magical world where Ideas and Metaphors can actually come to life. But what end this magical world serves is the mystery which Killing Commendatore slowly, exquisitely unravels. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Murakami combines an amazing imagination, complex characters and elegant prose into an absolutely brillliant page turner. Throughout his career Murakami has had the ability to create worlds and realities that seem to coexist with what we deem to be normal. These places do not exist in any rational sense bur are sometimes more real than what we think of as everyday reality. For instance in this novel, he probes the boundary between presence and absence to marvelous effect. He seems to see existence as having several hidden dimensions, some of them as beautiful as a Mozart sonata, some of them as sinister as a nightmare. Killing Commendatore is one of his best works and easily my favourite recent novel.

I can't like posts so I'll just say this is a great review.

 

[Thucydides]

Great review. I hope to read this this year .

 

[kihei]

Thank you both.

 

[kihei]

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Safe to say this is not your father's science fiction. Ted Chiang, the writer of these nine short stories, possesses a towering intellect and a questioning mind. His favourite move in most of these stories is to take a reasonable guess at where technology is leading us and then extrapolate from there on both its benefits and its shortcomings--some of which are exceedingly dire. Each story requires genuine intellectual engagement if you are to get the most out of it. Whether he is conjuring how Einstein's theory or relativity influences time travel or imagining a practical use for quantum physics that enables certain individuals to trace the pattern of their behaviour in other universes, Chaing's work is always grounded in scientific theory and modern philosophy. Some of these stories are actually a little intimidating intellectually, and it doesn't help that Chiang displays virtually no sense of humour whatsoever, even when his central protagonist is a parrot. He also rides heavy on didacticism as each of these stories makes a rather underlined point about life in the here and now. But even at his most challenging, the quality of his imagination on display here is just too far-reaching and too adventurous to ignore.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy (1985) -

Only now is the child finally divested of all that he has been. His origins are become remote as is his destiny and not again in all the world's turning will there be terrains so wild and barbarous to try whether the stuff of creation may be shaped to man's will or whether his own heart is not another kind of clay.

A masterpiece amongst masterpieces written by a genius amongst geniuses. The plot appears somewhat simple at first glance: In the 19th century, a teenaged runaway and redoubtable brawler referred to as the kid joins two cavalries (with the bulk of the book spent on his time with the Glanton Gang) and leads a life of violence across the American West, eventually coming to confrontation with Judge Holden, a mystical figure whose infinite intellect is only matched by his infinite depravity. But summarizing the story as being that would do it a disservice. Cormac McCarthy, by centralizing long stretches of the novel on the Glanton Gang's travels and activities, leaving the kid as a peripheral protagonist who does not dominate the novel, instead leaves the gang itself, and particularly John Glanton and The Judge to fill in as central characters whose actions and schemes enable the author a serious meditation on war and violence with the occasional dabble into mankind's soul. Going into what and why in a review wouldn't be worth it but I'd be open a discussion. It is an impressive artistic achievement done through a number of characters who can barely speak above the level of grunts, but whose limitations with dialogue are propped by a lyrical vastness that makes Blood Meridian a transcendent work of prose. It is hard to grasp how an author can conjure up such sentences and to do it through a sometimes archaic use of english that never, ever, comes across as corny or as a schtick. Scenes of gruesome murders or the enthralling nature are simultaneously described with a proficency for images that are unrivaled in literature. Cormac McCarthy paints constant vivid and colorfuls nightmares through his words and supports them with stylized characters that oozee with originality, including the minor ones. Blood Meridian is the work of a true original, a novel that combines intellectual depth and stylistic genius to create what may be the greatest novel of the 20th century and to me, the greatest American novel I have read. It's hard to know what the past and future hold, but I struggle to imagine a work that may match its idiosyncrasy even if we do not take quality into account. A work of art of prodigious importance that will likely never be replicated. A testimony to what humans can achieve. Having read Blood Meridian for the first time a few years ago, it is hard not to consider the novel and Kafka's The Metamorphosis as two central works who sort of constituted my first foray into a serious art awakening and the heightened possibilities that it offers. I haven't been the same reader since and across all artforms, it shapes one not to desire wasting anymore time on art that lacks a distinct voice. There's nothing more excruciating (and thus challenging) than voiceless art. It's why I can no longer sit through superhero films in their current form.

 

[Thucydides]

i have twenty eight pages left and I’m stepping away, not so I can write this review, but to savour the last little bit of it, & to make it last a little bit longer . One of the finest pieces of literature I’ve ever had the privilege of reading, and a book that one could easily build an argument for it being the best book, ever. At almost 1200 pages it was pure pleasure the whole way through. I wish it was longer .

In the past I have given out some 10/10s when it comes to books, but after reading The Power Broker , I was wrong, they weren’t 10/10s. The Power Broker is though. Most definitely .

10/10

 

[kihei]

Some Trick by Helen DeWitt

This collection of thirteen short stories, almost all of them centred on people on the fringe of the art scene, was tedious as hell. No doubt DeWitt has a high degree of intelligence and erudition, but her writing is boring in the extreme and her humour is often so dry that it hardly registers. I just got nothing worth having from this book.

 

[Thucydides]

Great book.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Close to giving up on The Mulching of America...it's not that it's so bad, but it just doesn't grab me. Last reading session before I decide to quit or go on.

 

[kihei]

Cockroach by Ian McEwan

Sort of a busman's holiday for McEwan. Cockroach is a novella-sized bit of satire on the Breixit mess. Cleverly McEwan has reversed Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Instead of a man turning into a cockroach, a cockroach turns into a man and becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain. Standing in for leaving the EU common market, the once and future bug determines that he will practice something called reverse economy and get all of us his Conservative Party colleagues, former cockroaches every one, to go along with this disastrous plan. Thus he makes the world a better place for bugs and a far worse place for humans. Basically the book is just a throwaway with some humourous moments. It does help if you know about Breixit and some of the principle players. Not an essential read for McEwen fans, though.

 

[Chili]

Charles Chaplin : My Autobiography

Watched the movie 'Chaplin'(with Robert Downey) a while ago and in the credits it listed two books that the movie was based on, this one and a David Robinson biography 'Chaplin: His Life and Art'. So I picked up both books.

Chaplin must have put many hours into writing it, his memory is amazing. I have started the Robinson book and early on he confirms the accuracy of Chaplin's memory based on his research. Chaplin had a tough childhood, his parents who were both performers, split up very early on in his life. He chronicles his life and films including a long list of people he met and spent time with (i.e. Churchill, Einstein, Gandhi, Hearst, …). He also mentions some of his favorite books. He does touch on some sensitive areas as in the circumstances that lead to leaving the US.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, recommend it to Chaplin fans.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The Mulching of America by Harry Crews (1995) - I give up after like 200 pages. It's not that it's so bad so much as not interesting at all to me. I struggle with books whose entire essence seems to be about being quirky through zany dialogue and then preaching about life. The best parts come when Crews lets himself being carried off by organic moments but there's just too few of them and outside of that...bleh. It just bored me. I nibbled away at it for too long but I don't have it in me to finish it even if I only have like 50 pages left. A thumbs-down from me.